Kiah Hostel

Kiah Hostel was a residential facility for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in care, which opened in Norman Park in around 1973. It was operated by the Queensland Aboriginal and Islanders’ Catholic Council. By around the early 1990s, Kiah Hostel was operated by the Aboriginal & Islander Apostolate within the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane. By around 1992, Kiah Hostel was run by Centacare Brisbane. In 2000 it moved to a new location in Wooloowin. The Hostel was defunded in around 2003, while it was under the control of Kummara Assoc. Inc. in West End.

The 1983-84 annual report of Aboriginal Hostels Limited
states that it provided funding to the Aboriginal and Islander Catholic Council to run the hostel under its South Queensland Third Party Hostel Grants Program. This report says that Kiah Hostel was run by the “Kiah Hostel Committee”.

By around 1992, Kiah Hostel was under the administration of Centacare, in the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane. The 1997 annual report of Catholic Social Response describes Kiah Hostel as a ‘culturally appropriate, short-term, secure family environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the temporary custody or guardianship of the Department of Families, Youth and Community Care’.

In 1997, Kiah Hostel received funding from the Department of Families, Youth and Community Care, Aboriginal Hostels Limited and the Department of Education.

It would seem that Kiah Hostel as a service for children ceased operating in 2003.

From 2003, the Kiah name continued as a service providing care for Indigenous patients and their escorts from rural and remote communities attending Brisbane hospitals. This service was run by Kummara until November 2004, then it was taken over by Mayem Mudh Association Inc. Kiah moved to 27 Allen Street, Hamilton in January 2005. This Kiah Hostel, funded by the Indigenous Patient Travel Assistance Subsidy Scheme, was still operating in 2014.